I just landed in Vegas. Literally bought tickets 3 hours ago and got grandma to watch the littlest. I just shoved ever pin I have (except the keepers on my board) into a backpack. Now I have to read through these threads so I don’t miss anything!

I just landed in Vegas. Literally bought tickets 3 hours ago and got grandma to watch the littlest. I just shoved ever pin I have (except the keepers on my board) into a backpack. Now I have to read through these threads so I don’t miss anything!

So excited for the Pinopolis Pincon lanyard trading!!! Here are the pins on the color lanyard!!! Make sure you get in the correct line!!! We open for table set up at 10 am. Early entry 11 am, and general public at noon! See you

So excited for the Pinopolis Pincon lanyard trading!!! Here are the pins on the color lanyard!!! Make sure you get in the correct line!!! We open for table set up at 10 am. Early entry 11 am, and general public at noon! See you

OK, I will post this review/trip report here and also in the "Almost Live from PinCon" thread. As always, I have opinions of the event and how it was handled.

The day began early, as the alarm woke me up at 4 a.m. I went to wake the rest of the family and one snafu came about. Our parents decided not to go! UGH, okay. Well, sis & I are still going so off we went.

We stopped off in Rancho to pick up a friend who was coming with us, only to find out he wasn't coming. Wait, what?! Yup, turns out he got an email Friday night, scheduling him for a second interview for Saturday, with less than 24 hours notice? He tried calling to reschedule and emailing, but was told, you either come in for the interview or you're off the list. OK, interview it is! (he got the job!)

That took less than 10 minutes so we were on our way (again).

We stopped off at the Barstow, CA McDonald's (the one that is a converted train) on the way to Vegas to eat breakfast and then get a lotto ticket and for gas. We made another stop in Primm, NV for more gas and Jean, NV to see if I could buy a lotto ticket. I learned that Nevada doesn't have a state lottery!!! I guess they make enough money gambling?

We arrived at our hotel shortly after 9:30 a.m. We were able to check in immediately, but breakfast had already concluded for the day....after unloading our luggage, we headed to Circus Circus. It took a while to find the proper room to be in, but we found it around 10:30 a.m. I stood at the end of the line after checking in for early entry (thank you to @disneykins for "sponsoring" me so I could get in a little earlier). There was a line of about 30-40 people. I went to check out the other side to see what was going on (there was a partition separating the "entry" into the event). On the other side of the partition was a table where lanyard traders were being sold (10 for $100 or 20 for $195) and the five lanyard tables were set up.

Yup, lanyard tables with colored tape marking the lines! Instead of walking around the ballroom, they had tables to trade the lanyard pins. And it was empty...I guess all the people that bought tables were already inside setting up and trading amongst themselves. So, we waited. They let us in a little after 11 a.m. and off I went to buy 60 lanyard traders. I then went to trade them while others went inside. Sis eventually came back (she went to grab a bite to eat) so I got her tickets for the Golden Magic Stitch pins and used hers, mine, and a couple who was behind me (they only wanted 2 sets, not 4) to get 6 sets [this was after the lanyard trading]. I also gave her the two dollies of pin bags/boards to hold as they were getting in the way when I was trying to trade with the lanyards.

BTW, the pins that we bought were the Pirate Bao Bay pins from HotArt/ACME. They were wrapped in plastic and either on card or not. I did not check to see if there was any special etching, but they were all the round ones.

I went to purchase the 6 sets then went back outside to do more lanyard trading. Eventually, sis was let inside (at 12 noon) and we finished the rest of our lanyard trading. Sis went to sit near @DISNEYPINS99's table since the doorway/exit was not being used. I came back and gave her the pin sets. While waiting in line to buy the sets, I passed by the HotArt/ACME pin table, where they had their pins set up for sale (at discounted prices too!) I was eventually able to get more tickets to buy the last two sets I needed to buy.

I wandered around all the tables. Most of the tables were set up with So Cal pin traders - yup! I would say at least 2/3 of the pin traders that had tables were from So Cal. It was hard to trade with the non-table people.

We were done at about 4 p.m. We wandered outside to see if any of the pins had changed from the morning, but they had not, only the colors of the lanyard which the pins were on. I spoke with Lenny (owner of PinPics) and he mentioned that they had gone through approximately 3000 traders.

Opinions/Criticisms (yup, you know I had to have them)

Instead of just having the early entry people stand "outside" in line, time could have been spent selling the lanyard traders and the Golden Stitch pins to them. They should have been let into the other side (but not into the ballroom), bought pins and then started lanyard trading. Then at 11 a.m., they could be let inside the ballroom to trade with the other pin traders.

Ditto with the free entry people.

It was brought up in various conversations that I or my sister had - why didn't HotArt/PinPics just sell the lanyard traders to people? They could have sold them as sets. My thoughts are that they thought they might not have sold as much? Since some of them are not as wanted?

The HotArt and Golden Stitch pins should have been set out in the foyer with the lanyard traders' sales. This way, it wouldn't cause a long line in the ballroom, which was somewhat small. Then at least 3-5 other tables could have been sold that were being occupied by these sales. The aisles were not very wide so that when the traders with their carts came through, it would block the entire aisle. The Golden Stitch line blocked half the entry into the ballroom and blocked most of the aisle on the right side of the ballroom.

After Dinner

We went to eat dinner at the Mexican restaurant at Circus Circus. Before we left, I went back to the Salon Ballroom to take another look at the lanyard traders. I took clearer pictures (posted on the DPF FB page) and showed them to sis. We discovered a different Karate Stitch had been put on the lanyards (they weren't on them in the morning) so I went to buy 10 more lanyard traders and got those, blue dress Belle, blue Aurora, and four more pins (I forgot which at the moment). Then we headed back to our hotel to relax a bit at the rooftop pool and then rest in the room before calling it a night.

Trip Home

We left our hotel at approximately 8 am and arrived home (after two stops for gas [one in Primm, NV and the other near our home so I would have a full tank for work]) at approximately 1 pm. Based upon the reports I read, it sounds like it was a good idea to leave then due to the traffic coming back on the I-15 on a Sunday.

Would I do this again?

I'm not sure. Maybe in the late fall, when it's not too hot and before it gets cold, windy, and rainy. If sis & I did this again, we would definitely buy a table for $100 and hopefully get a gold sponsor to sponsor one of us so that one could go in at 10 am and the second could go in at 11 am. We might have been able to trade more with non So Cal people (all the pins I got yesterday were from So Cal peeps that I knew). The plush was from a group that seemed familiar but I could not recall from where. They gave out the plush for any authentic Disney pin. As I had some of the 2017 hidden mickey pins, that's what I used to trade for the four plush and one pair of gloves.

But I'm not sure I would do this again.

We did get good trades in, but again, those were with So Cal people which I know we could have traded with later, lol.

We did make enough money to cover our expenses by selling of the pins, but was it worth it? I'm not sure. Maybe after I have some more time to think about it, I can answer the question.

Thank you for the Review. We can Always count on you for a Reliable feed-back.

I realize this doesn't matter, but, I had a hunch that most of the peeps attending would be locals we already knew. Which is one reason (and, I am trying to save $ for a visit to WDW late next year) I didn't attend. Plus, my traders are just not up to par for the traders that were there.

This was my 2nd PinCon World Trade Event, with the 1st one being the one held in Anaheim earlier this year in Anaheim. I look forward to attending future PinCons held in both of these locations.

After spending a very brief amount of time at the very beginning of the event doing pick ups for friends who had asked for them, I spent the rest of the event both trading and talking about pins with other event attendees, some who I already knew, and others I had just met.

I had purchased a table because when I go to these PTEs, I bring 7 bags full of a variety traders. And as usual, I traded pins out of all of those books. I traded for new non-LEs, old very low LEs, and a wide range of other LEs.

Some of the trades were just completions of trades that had been negotiated in advance. Most of the trades were ones that were completely negotiated during the event itself.

In addition, negotiations started on trades to be completed at future PTEs. This happens often because I re-trade with many of the same people.

What was unusual for me at this event is that I participated in a three-way trade. I want to thank the other member of this forum who I met at the event who’s form name I believe starts with an “s”, who lives in a state other than NV or CA, and who collects Halloween themed pins, for helping me out with a 3-way trade.

I hope that Tessa was doing a turnaround, driving by herself, got home safely.

I enjoyed meeting you, Lisa. I am sorry that the only time we had together was just to introduce ourselves to each other, and that we didn’t have time to see any of the other person’s pins.

I think this was the first PinCon to be held in Las Vegas. Perhaps this is why most of the locals there chose to attend the event as “walk ins”. Speaking only for myself, I expect this is why the Pinopolis team carefully chose the protocol that was deployed at the start of the event. And by this I mean they took great care to made it extremely unlikely for any of the many new releases to sell out until after the “walk ins” would have had an opportunity of several hours to get them.

I liked the minor change made in the layout of the tables that had the vendors chairs back to back because this provided a more secure area for the vendors to store their personal items.

After giving it some more thought, I think we will stick with the local (Anaheim) pin events. The last time we went to Las Vegas (before this trip) was the year the Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton closed down (we went specifically because we heard it was closing down)....so that was sometime in 2008. Sis & I are getting old (lol) and don't enjoy the road trip as much as we used to before. But, I suppose, never say never! We could change our mind...and if we do, we will definitely buy a table so that there is more opportunity to trade with locals!

I just wish it was less crowded. It took so long for me to get around that I didn’t get to see everyone’s pins. I finally left at 6:00 pm to get food and I still hadn’t been to several areas. In the later hours, there was more space to move, but some traders had already left and by then I was starving!

After giving it some more thought, I think we will stick with the local (Anaheim) pin events. The last time we went to Las Vegas (before this trip) was the year the Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton closed down (we went specifically because we heard it was closing down)....so that was sometime in 2008. Sis & I are getting old (lol) and don't enjoy the road trip as much as we used to before. But, I suppose, never say never! We could change our mind...and if we do, we will definitely buy a table so that there is more opportunity to trade with locals!

Click to expand...

No apology needed, especially as we only were able to manage a few moments of interaction.

This was my first trip to Las Vegas since the very early 90s. And it was the farthest I never traveled to go to a PTE, About twice the distance to travel when I go to the PTEs held in the greater southern CA area. My preference for the local PTEs is entirely due to the shorter distance I have to travel to get to them, however, because most of the other locals I frequently trade with did travel to Las Vegas for this PTE.

I am hoping that the Las Vegas locals attending this past weekend’s PTEs as ”walk ins” will seriously consider springing for a table at next years PTEs, particularly those that had multiple pin bags with them.

One of the reasons why my preference is always for hard-ticket PTEs is because of the table that comes with it.

In addition to my seven pin bags, I also have a huge blue tote bag that is full of the cards for the pins into it though seven books. Having to maneuver all that stuff just back and forth between my car and the entrance to the PTE is hard enough, I certainly wouldn’t want to do this walking up and down the isles tables at a PTE. In addition I just cannot be standing for hours and hours on end. So the chair I have with the table at the PTE is greatly appreciated.

What was unusual for me at this event is that I participated in a three-way trade. I want to thank the other member of this forum who I met at the event who’s form name I believe starts with an “s”, who lives in a state other than NV or CA, and who collects Halloween themed pins, for helping me out with a 3-way trade.

I hope that Tessa was doing a turnaround, driving by herself, got home safely.

And yes, I did get home safely. I did pull over once to take a quick 15 minute power nap to rest my eyes, but otherwise it was smooth sailing. There was a lightning storm in the mountains near the state border, so I even got a light show for the first hour or so of my drive.

Overall, even though the drive was long, I think it was worth it for me (keeping in mind my trip was free except for gas and food and the lanyard traders I purchased), and I would probably go out again. There were a lot of So Cal people I recognized, but I got to touch base with a few who I haven't seen in awhile, and I'd say at least half of the trades I made were with people who I didn't recognize from the usual So Cal trade events or releases.

I forgot to comment on my two trips to the Pinopolis pin trading boards.

I was very happy with the two pins I pulled off the board. This is another bonus for purchasing event ticket that came with the table.

And I want to thank the Pinopolis team for the greater transparency they deployed in organizing the order in which the table folks got their trip to the boards.

Each table purchase came with two trips to the pin board.

Prior to check in, random number vouchers were put into a bag and each person with a table was able to put their hand in the bag and randomly choose a voucher number. This determined the order in which their 1st trip to the board was made.

The second trip to the board was also determined a randomized program, but it was done prior to the event. This second ticket was also given to the table holders at check-in time.

I am not sure if both tickets had a time on it, but most certainly one of them did, for I recall setting the alarm on my iPhone to go off a couple minutes before my board turn.

Overall, I see in decided improvements into the general organization of this PinCon over the one held earlier this year in Anaheim.

And I instinctively feel that each future one will be better than the one before.

This was my first PinPics/ Pinopolis event. I think it was a good one although I feel similarly that I wouldn't come all the way to Vegas for it again. The lanyard trading was relatively smooth sailing, but the confusion on what was going to be refreshed and not was a bit annoying. I wish I had played pin bingo and that the trading tables were a bit more spaced out. It was very crowded, but I think it'll prob be crowded no matter what.

I Would like to chime in and thank each and every one of you for coming to the PinCon. It was absolutely wonderful to meet all of you that I was able to get to talk with! We absolutely love all of the feedback that you are giving and I will definitely get with Lenny and Lisa to improve future events so that it is definitely worth the while.

The lanyard trading was our 1st ever and although we had some minor bumps as to if we were going to "flip" the pins, I've heard that it ran pretty smoothly (I was the black lanyard all day Saturday, so my line was of course the best!). All of the lanyard pins are LE200 and we did end up going through over 4000 lanyard pins!!! The remaining pins that we had will be distributed through the pin masters across the world. You will only be able to get lanyard pins from pin masters at their stores or live events.

We Are very excited for the next event which will be the Orlando event. NEW LE releases, new lanyard pins and a lot of excitement coming from Pinopolis. Make sure you go to our website and RSVP for your tables and all of the amazing packages that we have available. Some are already selling out!!